Fans of "Sex and the City" have finally gotten their wish: Their beloved sex-focused sitcom is back on the air ... sort of. The four women have become four men, of course, and the writing isn't as good. Oh, and the laugh track so annoying, it's offensive. And did I mention that the costumes would be considered fashionable if you were holding a yard sale?

"Men at Work," premiering Thursday, May 24, on TBS, is almost quaint, it's so old fashioned. If it had any meat on its bones, you'd be tempted to say it's the sadly ignoble epitome of TV's long-festering emasculated-men syndrome. But it's so much of a big, forgettable, innocuous shrug, it's not even worth any actual vitriol.

The show was created by Breckin Meyer, best known for various acting roles including "Franklin & Bash," whose executive producer, Jamie Tarses, is one of "Men's" producers as well. That coziness may have prevented someone from seeing that the new show is to TV what Oakland was to Gertie Stein: There's just no there there.

Danny Masterson ("That '70s Show") isn't exactly the show's star, but probably first among the four equally thin characters at the center of the inaction who all work for a magazine called Full Steam. Danny's Milo has just been dumped by his girlfriend, Lisa, and isn't taking it well. His buddies know exactly what he needs: "Take your newly single penis for a test drive," one of them advises.

The other members of "The (Male) View" include Gibbs (James Lesure, "Mr. Sunshine"), who's either another version of Barney Stinson ("How I Met Your Mother") or "Family Guy's" Quagmire; Tyler (Michael Cassidy, "Privileged"), a pretty-boy celebrity profile writer; and Neal (Adam Busch, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), an uptight, buttoned-down nerd (go ahead: Guess his profession. If you said accountant, apply for a job as a TV series writer) whose girlfriend wants him to talk dirty while they're making love.

Um, yeah. Well, OK: Gasp.

The cast is agreeable, but largely forgettable. If this show was premiering even a decade ago, it might not feel as stale and out of place as it does in today's sitcom world populated with shows like "Modern Family," "Parks and Recreation," "30 Rock," "Raising Hope" and even, God help us, "Two and a Half Men." That isn't to say that an old-fashioned sitcom can't work at all, but shows like "Last Man Standing" at least offer decent writing and an established, likable star in Tim Allen.

And you know? If a cable channel can't at least nudge the boundaries a bit and can only come up with a new show that looks like "My Three Sons" next to any number of current broadcast channel sitcoms, something's seriously wrong with the universe.